Difference Between LED Backlit and Full LED TV

In an effort to push their products, companies often market their products using certain buzzwords that can be misleading. In this case, the term ‘LED’ misleads people into thinking that they have LED TVs when it is still the same LCD TV. The term LED backlit sprung when manufacturers switched the CCFL tubes located at the sides of the screen, used to light the LCD display. To discriminate from LED backlit TVs, manufacturers who used full led arrays called their product Full Array LED TV, which later got shortened to Full LED TV. As you may have guessed, the main difference between these two is how the LEDs are positioned and how many LEDs are there. As already stated, LED backlit TVs only have LEDs on the edges of the screen, while Full LED TVs have LEDs spread out in a grid across the entire display.

The biggest advantage of Full LED over LED backlit is having brightness spread more evenly across the screen. Because there is no light source in the middle of LED backlit TVs, it relies on the diffuser to spread the light evenly. However, it would never be truly even as the sides would always be brighter than the center. Full LEDs can achieve true evenness as the light source is spread out evenly across the screen.

Another advantage is a feature called ‘local dimming,’ or the ability to control the brightness of the LEDs on certain sections of the screen. This feature allows the Full LED TVs to achieve excellent contrast. A good example would be a scene in a dark cave with a torch in the middle. With a LED Backlit TV, the LEDs need to be lit brightly in order to make the torch bright, but some of the light would seep through the sides and wash-out the truly black sections of the screen. With Full LED TVs, it is possible to turn off the LEDs near the side for deeper blacks while cranking up the center area to maximum brightness for the torch.

The only advantage of LED backlit TVs is the thinness that can be achieved. Full LED TVs are slightly thicker than LED backlit displays, partly because of the thickness of the LEDs and partly because of the material that holds the LEDs.

Summary:

1. LED Backlit TVs only have LEDs on the edges, while Full LED TVs have LEDs spread out all over the screen
2. Full LED TVs have more LEDs than LED Backlit TVs
3. Full LED TVs have a more even lighting than LED Backlit TVs
4. Full LED TVs can attain better contrast than LED Backlit TVs
5. Full LED TVs can be slightly thicker than LED Backlit TVs

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Written by : Ben Joan.
and updated on February 28, 2011

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Ben Joan. "Difference Between LED Backlit and Full LED TV." DifferenceBetween.net. February 28, 2011 < http://www.differencebetween.net/object/gadgets-object/difference-between-led-backlit-and-full-led-tv/ >.